Letters to the Editor: Overregulate legal pot growers, and surprise, illegal weed thrives

To the editor: What did people expect when the legal pot regulatory scheme was set up? (“Illegal cannabis farms still scarring public lands, two years after Prop. 64,” Aug. 29)

California already produced way more pot than could be consumed within the state. Then, the permitted growers and sellers were hit with huge taxes and regulatory burdens, only enhancing the advantage of illegal growers. Thus, profit margins for illegal growers remain intact, maybe even improved.

As it is now, permitted growers produce more than can legally be sold in California, so where is the excess going? Clearly it is being exported — illegally — to other states.

As with gun control, California does not exist in a vacuum. It seems to me the whole scheme needs to be rethought. Law enforcement alone can’t fix the problem.

John Bowen, Goleta, Calif.